Last Saturday Lord Rosebery addressed the Scottish History Society,—a Society
of which seventeen years ago he was the principal founder. He spoke of the admirable work that was being done in the publication of records which cast fresh light on the social customs and ideas of our forefathers.
"He ventured to think that they could not do better work as a Society for the preservation of history than in the humble and unobtrusive task of letting every an know in every degree of life how their forbears lived and worked and carried on the business of the country." We welcome this attitude, more especially in Scotland, the history of which is in a peculiar degree family and social history. There is little Scottish constitutional history, and her political career is best read in the family papers of the nobility and gentry who were the protagonists in every struggle. Genealogical science, such as is found in the works of the late Sir William Fraser, has been carried to a high pitch in Scotland ; and, like France, she has always been rich in Memoirs. In putting such records in a final and permanent form before time has destroyed them, the Scottish History Society is doing historical work of the highest value.
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